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The Future of Parking in Broward County

Introduction

Broward County's Department of Transportation Planning and Department of Environmental Protection asked The Center for Creating the Future, Inc., to prepare this report on the future of parking in the County. The County is concerned not just about the transportation aspects of parking but the environmental impacts as well.

The Center, founded in January 2001 and dedicated to the proposition that we can and should create our future and not just wait for it, saw this study as an opportunity to bring a number of concepts to technicians, policy makers and the informed general public. We also took the opportunity to conduct the research and present the results in an innovative way. First, we have put our research on our web site as it was done, so that any interested party could comment immediately and not have to wait until the study was completed. Second, we are presenting the report on a computer disc as well as in the customary printed form and the printed reports visually resemble a web site as much as possible. Finally, the report is structured to allow the County or other interested parties to continue the process, since change, even in an apparently mundane topic as parking, is continuous.

Scope of Study

1. Overview of present issues

Conventionally, a parking study involves taking a discrete area, analyzing the zoning uses and densities and multiplying by a formula or formulas to arrive at an estimated need for parking. This study will go well beyond that.

The study will address parking issues throughout Broward County and, while urban areas with intense commercial uses will receive the most attention, suburban commercial areas and certain residential parking issues will be addressed.

While the basic issue is, is there enough parking and, if not, what can be done about it, we will also address the negative environmental impacts of parking: emissions resulting from searching for parking spaces inside and outside ramps and the loss of carbon dioxide-oxygen exchange as more grass is paved over.

Since this is a parking study, we assume that, as the County's population increases, the demand for parking will increase. This is not strictly linear, i.e. one person does not equal one car equals X residential and job-related parking spaces. It requires, at the very least, age and income analysis as well as marketing trends analysis. For example -- just two of the many possible examples -- will the trend of more people eating more meals outside the home continue or decline as we age? The Center forecasts dramatic 10-to-20-year increases in the US Longevity over the next 30 to 50 years, so will we drive more (more free time) or less (reduced skills)?

There are several trends that could lead to reduced demand for parking spaces: more reliance on public transportation, more telecommuting, and more internet and telephone shopping. As the analysis and the recommendations will demonstrate, PARKING SOLUTIONS ARE MUCH LESS CAPITAL INTENSE AND HAVE MUCH SHORTER IMPLEMENTATION TIMES THAN RELATED TRAFFIC-ISSUE SOLUTIONS. Necessary changes can be made incrementally with much less risk of time and capital. THIS IS A KEY POINT OF THIS STUDY. Key points will be highlighted and numbered. This is Key Point 1.

Finally, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have raised another issue which was not foreseen in the original scope of this study. Security should, however, be addressed as the extent of the risk becomes clarified. A look back at the history of similar events shows that present responses are almost certainly overly cautious, but nonetheless, the issue should be addressed at a later time.

2. Methods

We have followed many paths both in our research and our analysis and our presentation. The Center considers it essential that such studies be accessible to the informed general public as well as technicians and experienced policy makers. A thick stack of paper simply will not be read. Our report is meant to be seen and the mounds of data available will be accessible but not included. The information presented will be what is necessary to begin developing a plan for the future. That plan can begin to be implemented at once, in six months or two years. As the specific recommendations will make clear, some should begin sooner rather than later, that is, to CREATE THE FUTURE OF PARKING NOW RATHER THAN WAITING FOR IT. Key Point 2.

Each reader should be able to reach his or her own conclusions from the presentation as to the timing of the recommendations.

Present Parking Conditions in Broward County

We will address four elements regarding present parking conditions in Broward County:

1. Availability: Is there enough parking?

2. Access: How easy is it to park?

3. Perceptions: Why is parking stressful?

4. Environmental impacts of parking

Are there enough parking spaces in Broward County?

There are some calculations about adequacy of parking in Broward County, but certainly nothing approaching completeness. Since it would be a number which changed daily, as new spaces are developed and old spaces put to other uses, without constant updating, even a 99% accurate number (unlikely) would quickly become out of date. In addition, it would need to be matched with demand requirements, an even more elusive target. To some degree, demand and utilization are a function of availability. The easier it is to park, the less likely we are to consider alternatives such as walking, public transportation or staying put.

Extensive observations and interviews, while necessarily anecdotal, have provided evidence which indicates there is no actual shortage of parking spaces in Broward County. (The perception of shortages will be addressed below.) This can be checked by observation and experience. For example, viewing the area thought to be in critical condition, downtown Fort Lauderdale, from the top floor of any tall building will reveal at any given time, significant numbers of empty spaces. Similarly, on a tour of downtown, one will only occasionally encounter a "Lot Full" sign.

There are exceptions. In bad weather, indoor parking can reach capacity as more people wish to park indoors and those already in, choose to stay in. The area around the Broward County Courthouse also experiences overloads in the morning hours as lawyers, litigants and jurors all attempt to find nearby spaces at the same time. Recent security measures have exacerbated this situation. Prior to that, the switch to selecting jurors from the list of licensed drivers rather than from the list of registered voters increased the size of the jury pools necessary to fill juries. More pre-screening may reduce this situation.

People's expectations that a parking space should be in the very closest proximity to their destination, adds to the Courthouse problem and the concomitant morning congestion.

There is considerable expansion of parking facilities on the north side of the New River, at the Bank of America building, the first Union Building and One River Plaza. Another peak load circumstance in the downtown is the Florida Atlantic University/Broward Community College Higher Education Complex at Las Olas and Southeast Third Avenue. That problem is compounded by student and faculty expectations that parking should not only be contiguous to the buildings but free as well. Utilization of the top floor of the City Park garage by FAU and BCC has improved this situation considerably.

Elsewhere in Broward County, parking shortages are almost entirely peak-hour problems, usually resulting from demand that exceeds the conventional parking formulas. One or more exceptionally popular restaurants or bars can throw off the conventional calculations by a wide margin. Market clearing and the usual ebb and flow of consumer choices will usually handle these situations; that is, either because of the parking difficulties or just the fickleness of popular taste, the "crisis" will pass. Some cities, such as Weston, have responded by changing their formulas. (A complete set of parking ordinances for Broward County and its municipalities can be accessed by sending an e-mail message to Rosario Bunge (rbunge@co.broward.fl.us) at Broward County's Department of Planning and Environmental Protection.)

Private sector strategies can include providing valet parking at peak times, which increases both customer satisfaction and parking capacity and raising prices. (A fuller discussion of pricing strategies will be found below in Section 3???). For Lauderdale beach, for example has less intense parking problems than a few years ago, when it seemed that “everyone” had to go to Beach Place.

Other commercial situations, such as warehouses and office parks, seem to be satisfactorily served by present formulas. The City of Weston has added an innovative approach to these uses by tailoring the parking requirements of new office park developments to the actual intended use. For example, a trans-shipping facility with a small number of employees and no visiting customers will be required to make fewer spaces than an electronics assembly facility or telemarketing operation.

Residential developments also seem to be adequate at this time, with a few serious exceptions. When the resident mix of a multi-unit complex changes, severe problems can result. Most of the condominiums built in the 1970s in Broward County were designed for retirees who rarely had more than one vehicle. Those unit owners are now being replaced by much younger couples, in most of which both partners work. Further, housing costs rise, apartments which were previously rented to one person and one car are now being occupied by two working roommates. Given the economic status of these projects, most physical solutions are not financially feasible, i.e., tear down some buildings to create parking space or acquire adjacent properties for more parking. The cost squeeze in these situations can be severe and while it is not a public obligation, local governments need to be aware and prepared to assist with zoning changes and in other ways.

There are a few other special peak hour situations such as churches and various special events where alternatives to supplying more parking, discussed below, should be considered.

To sum up, there is no overall parking shortage, much less a parking crisis, in Broward County in terms of availability of parking spaces. That, however, is not the whole story. Access to parking is an important component of any parking analysis. How can we make parking easier for people?

Access

Improving access to parking, making it easier to park, increases the perception of availability of parking and reduces the stress of parking.

Presently, people feel there are fewer parking spaces than there actually are because they are not aware of them or feel they are difficult to find or park in.

The problem surfaces in different ways for different people. Tourists may be completely unaware of parking locations, occasional visitors unaware of all the possibilities and frequent parkers unaware of alternatives to their accustomed parking spot. Once at the parking garage or area, signage or lighting may be inadequate to making the parking experience an easy one.

Special events, which change traffic patterns, such as a Las Olas Art Fair or the Air and Sea Show, compound access to parking dramatically , but they also give us examples of how to deal with even everyday parking problems.

First, information for the public, from both governmental and private sources, should be plentiful and understandable. As a driver approaches his or her destination, information should be continuously available. Even within a parking structure, signage is important, both its visual clarity and its understandability. As people know more and their experiences get better, the time necessary to park will decrease as will stress. Those responsible should thoroughly test their signs for these factors.

Signs are proliferating throughout our environments. As we increase information about parking access, it must be done in an esthetically pleasing fashion. It should also be predictable, that is, in the same locations as testing shows most enhances readability. Absorbing the information should be the least distracting as possible, while being effective.

In Europe, much effort goes into making parking "invisible", concealing parking facilities to the greatest degree possible. Where it is essential to preserve the historical and esthetic appeal of an area, this is appropriate. Too often, however, these suggestions come from people who are merely hostile to automobiles. Most Americans do not share these feelings.

Parking facilities should be as attractive as any other part of our visual environment but they needn't be invisible. U.S. drivers like to see where their car is and is going to be. That factor should not be ignored by planners and urban designers.

Perceptions: Why is parking stressful?

The 1990 Census put Fort Lauderdale’s population at 149,377 and in 2000 the city stood at 152,397. The County’s population is over ten times that, 1,623,018 (2000). In 1970, it was only 620,100, just before the take-off. Further, while Fort Lauderdale has long been the County seat, its downtown and beach did not begin to take off until the mid-1990s. Similarly, suburban communities jumped not only in residential population (Weston, Sunrise, Plantation, Coral Springs), but in commercial development. As a result, all but the most recent arrivals remember when they could park “anywhere” with no hassle and virtually no charge. They have forgotten that there was little or nothing to do when they got there. The infrastructure of downtown Fort Lauderdale, the government office buildings such as the Federal Courthouse, the State of Florida Office Building, began to go in in the late ‘70s and 80s but the private sector response did not kick in until the early ‘90s, fueled to a significant degree by the multiple offshoots of the entrepreneurial energy of Wayne Huizenga and his associates. All of a sudden, after 20 years of effort downtown was an “overnight success.” And street parking or the first floor or two of a parking garage was not enough to park everyone.

A parking space on the forth floor of a parking garage underneath or adjacent to one’s office building for a monthly fee of $45, a positively orgasmic circumstance in New York or even Miami, is considered an insuperable burden in Broward County. On the beach, after the (forced) departure of spring Break in 1985 and 1986, there was an idyllic period beginning in the early 1990s of redevelopment as yet undiscovered. One had the feeling of having the beach to oneself. When the rest of South Florida and the world discovered our paradise, things changed. The “crisis” came with the opening of Beach place, a multi-story complex of shops and restaurants attached to a time-share hotel. “Everyone” not only had to go there, they had to park there, not a block away. Now that the initial excitement has calmed down and people have gotten more savvy, traffic and parking have subsided to the level of seldomly very crowded except during the peak of the tourist season.

Similarly, as suburban communities like Weston and Coral Springs grew, frequently commercial development moving to the rhythms of natural economic patterns did not always keep up,. That, plus the occasional hyperpopularity of a particular bar, restaurant or shop, would lead to a parking “crisis.” Eventually, the market place and individuals responded to these conditions: more parking is created, more restaurants are opened in other areas, and people change their behavior, either consciously or unconsciously. If a parking or traffic “crisis” continues, it means people want to go there and will pay the price in time and stress. Local governments can only do so much about these perceptions, but there are several relatively easy steps which can be taken in the near term to ameliorate these problems. There will be set forth in our recommendations. It was difficult to quantify the stress levels caused by parking problems, but they do have social and individual health consequences and should not be brushed off.

Environmental impacts of parking

Environment

Most people do not consider parking as an environmental issue, but in fact it is.

In congested downtown areas, it is easiest to see: cars driving around looking for a place to park add to the amount of air pollution. Within parking structures, where exhausts are trapped, is a further intensification of the problem. Exhaust fans or open structures reduce the levels inside the structures by spreading to the outside, adding to ambient pollution levels. Air quality regulators are aware of this and limit the amount of exhaust pollution allowed within designated areas and increased development can be halted if levels are exceeded. (Refer to regulations)

Broward County is presently regarded as having adequate air quality (after having been under EPA restrictions for a number of years) ___________-- how long?

But our air quality constantly being monitored and we must be continuously aware of the impact of automobile generated pollution on our air quality and quality of life.

The issue is not limited to densely developed urban areas. Large suburban parking lots can also be large generators of auto exhaust as people search for parking spaces. Furthermore, the instinctive response to a shortage of parking, even if only at a few peak periods, is to require paving over more land for more parking. This not only fails to reduce pollution, it reduces air quality by eliminating vegetation which cleans our air and exchanges carbon dioxide for oxygen. Also, while we now require stormwater runoff to be contained on site at parking lots, if the water does not filter back into the aquifer, it will either require expensive treatment or dump pollutants into our waterways.

Alternatives to these environmentally damaging parking methods will be addressed below.

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Centralized information
A spreadsheet is available with information about all of the city ordinances currently on the books in Broward County.
The spreadsheet was compiled by DPEP’s Air Quality Division
rbunge@co.broward.fl.us
Rosalia Bunge, Natural Resource Specialist II
218 SW First Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
954 519 1262
fax 954 519 1495